Newstalk presenter Tom Dunne has admitted his new radio slot suits him better as he gets to play more music.

The Something Happens star was moved from his morning position to make way for Pat Kenny and the 54-year-old insisted the change has made him happier.

Tom said: “I’m loving the show to be honest. I think this type of show suits me better, definitely, as there’s a lot more music in it and I love music.

“People always say if you find something you love you’ll never work again and that was always the case and music this year is sensational.”

Tom’s morning show was mostly chat and he added he missed sharing his love of great tunes with the audience.

He said: “There were maybe two songs an hour, if that, and I missed that bit of it – I loved the chat but I missed the music.

“And there’s a lot more music now so I’m happier.”

Tom added he has a good relationship with veteran broadcaster Pat and thinks he’s doing a good job at the station.

He said: “I get on well with Pat – I had only met him professionally prior to this when Something Happens appeared on The Late Late Show.

“I think there was a sense that it needed more gravitas and experience at that point in the day and I couldn’t really disagree with that.”

When Tom’s not at work he makes sure he is at home with his wife Audrey and their girls Skye, five, and seven-year-old Eva.

He added: “Monday to Thursday I don’t finish until midnight and I have kids that are really young so the idea of just abandoning them and saying ‘Daddy’s going for pints’ is a bit 1950s.

“I don’t think I could do that to them. I’m a modern dad, I am there for the stories.

“The girls absolutely soak up stories and I find the whole thing really appeals to me as I make up unbelievable nonsense and they are glued to it. Bring it on – I wouldn’t miss it.”

Despite the fact radio is a turbulent career if you are a presenter, Tom doesn’t get too stressed out about listenership figures as he says it is the price he pays for a creative role.

He said: “You do get used to it after a while but it is your Leaving Cert results every three months.

“The good thing about it is you know where you stand.

“In every job you have to compete and meet certain targets but sometimes you just don’t know if you are. At least with radio if you are going in the right or wrong direction you find out quickly.”

And Tom reckons it isn’t as erratic as his previous job as the frontman of legendary band Something Happens.

He’s getting together with the other members of the group, Ray Harman, Alan Byrne and Eamonn Ryan, on May 10 at Whelan’s in Dublin to play their hit album Stuck Together With God’s Glue in its entirety for the first time.

Tom added: “It’s the big album, it was No1 in 1990 and Parachute and Hello Hello Hello Hello Hello were two big singles. We are 30 years together as a band – 30 years ago I was introduced to them through a mutual friend and we have had a great time ever since.

“So we wanted to mark that anniversary somehow and the idea of doing the God’s Glue album came to us.”

Tom Dunne

During those days Something Happens were one of the biggest bands in Ireland.

Tom said: “It was genuine fame, there’s no way around that. When we were No1 we were huge in Ireland.

“It was absolutely brilliant and I can’t fault it.

“If you had told me the day we started the band that we would headline Feile and do something as big as that I would have fallen over.

“The height of our ambition was to release a single and maybe play the Baggot Inn.”

The band made the big time after signing to Virgin Records and hit tracks like Parachute are still just as popular with fans today.

And Tom admitted there were plenty of girls hanging around the band.

He joked: “It was more exciting than anything a reasonably short man from Drimnagh [South Dublin] ever expected but I don’t think it was quite the Hammer Of The Gods.

“We tended to be in relationships so that kept us on the straight and narrow which is just as well.”

But tough tours and dwindling audiences eventually started to take their toll.

Tom added: “There were times when we would get into a bus to go to America and we might be three months on the road there.

“I remember being flown back to Boston to do a gig and we saw an Aer Lingus 747 and we nearly cried.

“We felt like we had been away for years but we had only been gone four weeks and we still had two months to go. There were great days and really bad days – it doesn’t go wrong suddenly but you can see it slipping away.

“On a tour of America we did two weeks on the east coast and it was all sold out but then we hit mid America and we didn’t see an audience again until we arrived in LA four weeks later.

“You did your best to try and stop it but when the record company moved away all the resources were gone.”

Tom said the reason the band still play the occasional date and still get on is because they gave it up before they started to hate it.

And the band are promising something special for Whelan’s.

Tom added: “We have never killed us – when we get together we get on very well and they are still my three best friends.

“We spent years writing these songs and we love them so when we get back together there’s a bit of magic there.”